Leading the Way

Togwotee Pass, at the head of the Wind River on the Great Divide, was an ancient travel route for the Tukudika people, a branch of the Shoshone known as Sheep Eaters for their reliance on bighorn sheep in the high mountains. Skilled mountain dwellers who remained in the mountains after the introduction of the horse, the Tukudika included Togwotee, whose name is said to mean lance thrower in the Shoshone language and who was known as an expert marksman and a powerful shaman. Although he spent his youth in the mountains and later joined the Plains Shoshone on the Wind River Reservation, he became an important guide through the pass. In 1873, he led a mapping expedition under Captain William A. Jones of the United States Army Corps of Engineers as part of a larger military defense survey, and Jones predicted the pass would become an important link for commerce between the Atlantic states and the American West. Ten years later, Togwotee led President Chester Arthur from Fort Washakie through the newly declared Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming · United States